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Embattled DuPage water panel picks treasurer

By Bob GoldsboroughSpecial to the Tribune

7:18 p.m. EST, January 14, 2011

The DuPage Water Commission's board has hired retired DuPage County Auditor Jim Rasins as the agency's treasurer and agreed to restart talks with three finalists who interviewed last year to be the commission's general manager.

Commissioners have said that both positions long have needed permanent appointees, as the Lake Michigan water agency continues to deal with fallout from a financial fiasco that began in late 2009, when the water commission's former financial administrator, Max Richter, inadvertently spent down almost all of its reserves.

The crisis resulted in Richter's firing and the resignations of longtime Treasurer Richard Thorn and General Manager Robert Martin, and it also prompted state legislation last year requiring the reappointment of the commission's entire, 13-member board at the end of 2010.

Six commissioners and the chairman are appointed by the County Board chairman, while mayors select the other six commissioners.

Rasins, 60, retired as DuPage's auditor in 2008. Approved by a unanimous vote on Thursday, he replaces Don Zeilenga, a former commissioner who was not reappointed and who had been serving as the commission's acting treasurer since Thorn stepped down last March.

"I'm very much looking forward to working with the commissioners and the staff to continue to improve the accountability and the fiscal picture of the commission in the eyes of the public," Rasins said.

Late last year, the commission's outgoing board had identified three finalists for the general manager post but decided to allow the new board to make the hire. Now, the commission's board has agreed to contact all three finalists to see if they are still interested in the position.

If so, the new board likely would interview all three finalists to see if there is a consensus candidate.

Longtime commission staffer Terry McGhee has been serving as the commission's acting general manager.

Thursday night's meeting represented the first gathering of the new board, on which fully eight of the 13 members are new appointees.

DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin, who had sponsored the water commission legislation last year while serving in the Illinois Senate, previously had urged municipal mayors to select all new appointees, but the mayors mostly ignored Cronin, reappointing four of the six municipal commissioners: Richard Furstenau, who also is a Naperville City Councilman; Phil Suess, who also is a Wheaton City Councilman; William Murphy, who also is Woodridge's mayor, and Frank Saverino, who also is Carol Stream's mayor.

The two new municipal commissioners, Itasca Mayor Jeff Pruyn and Villa Park Village President Tom Cullerton, were chosen only after their predecessors opted to step down.

Meanwhile, the County Board recently signed off on Cronin's final two appointees to the commission's board, Elmhurst resident and J.P. Morgan Wealth Management banker Christopher Janc and land developer David Russo of Winfield.

With those two appointees, Cronin selected six new commissioners. Only Cronin's hand-picked commission board chairman, County Board member Jim Zay, R-Carol Stream, previously had served on the commission's board.